Stargazer
by Infinity Deku
Summary: In the early days of Beacon Academy Jaune Arc awakens his Semblance seemingly by chance. Gifted with the power to stop time itself, Jaune plans to use this power for the sake of others. To save the lives of the innocent and slay the Creatures of Grimm. But, being at the bottom of the totem pole has left Jaune with a thing for theatrics.


**The introductory chapter of a story where reality decides that Jaune did a good job putting up with it, so reality gives him a reward.**

* * *

In this moment, Jaune was walking through the Emerald Forest as way to think more clearly after Cardin had continued his assault on him, his reason being "for having a stupid face." Jaune's sword, Crocea Mors, hung limply on his hip while Jaune pushed away a stray tree branch. Pine needles, fallen leaves, sticks and branches crunched and snapped under Jaune's boots, the trees unaware or simply uncaring of his dismay. A special dismay that grasped at his heart in a vice, a vice that was becoming tighter and tighter than Jaune had imagined. It had held on since his childhood, with so many people in his home village laughing at him, mocking him for childish dreams of heroism. To become a symbol of hope and peace for the innocent, whose lives were plagued by the threat of the shadows that lurked beyond the safety of the Kingdom's walls.

And yet no one bothered to help him.

Just what about him was so bad that everyone and reality felt the need trip him and throw him into the fiery pit of failure?

Why did his parents deny him of his dream? That it was dangerous? Of course, Jaune knew. Doubtless, becoming a Huntsman was a dangerous and life-threatening profession. But his sisters had been trained to fight, so why couldn't he?

Did they just simply not care?

Were they afraid of something?

Jaune snorted at that. What did he have that could possibly make his own family afraid of him? Jaune was not intimidating in the slightest, he knew. Had he been born with darker hair and possibly a purple or red eyes, then perhaps Jaune could at least make someone take a step back from his gaze, but... no.

Sun-kissed hair, messily laid out on his head while his eyes were a brilliant sapphire, filled to the brim with hopes and dreams.

But Jaune was continually denied fulfilling them.

_They didn't even bother to tell me about Aura. They could've at least given me my Aura to give me some form of protection._

Was he not worthy of it?

"No! That would be so stupid!" Jaune yelled at no one in particular. "No one should have to prove themselves worthy of their own soul!"

The human soul was something that defined humans and Faunus (the great conjoining of human and fauna) as a living species. The force that expresses the uniqueness of a human even among their own kin. The very thing that protected them when unleashed to their fullest potential.

Potential.

Jaune remembered his discussion with Ozpin ten days ago. He remembered that moment clearer than a fresh spring.

* * *

_"You see, Mister Arc, I know about your transcripts and, were this place Atlas Academy, I would expel you," Ozpin had said, going straight to point and turning Jaune's blood to ice under his skin. Of course, a forged transcript in an academy wasn't exactly an official criminal offense unless statute provided otherwise (with the exception of Atlas, who took the rules and laws far too seriously for anyone's liking). "But, I won't."_

_Jaune reeled back, half expecting Ozpin or Goodwitch to begin scolding at him either for attending their academy unofficially or for potentially putting his own life in danger because he wasn't trained for this profession._

_"W-Why?" Jaune asked. "I forged a transcript and did something dishonest to attend one of the most prestigious academies in Remnant! And for what?! To become something I know for a fact I'm not?!"_

_Ozpin and Glynda did not flinch from Jaune's outburst, their calm demeanor never wavering. No matter how the wind howled, the mountains would remain unmoved._

_Ozpin sighed before taking a sip of his hot cocoa, "On the contrary, I believe that with the right people, the right environment, and the right training, you could become something great," Ozpin said without an ounce of hesitation, Glynda surprisingly nodded next to him. "Your Aura is vast in quantity, according to what Miss Nikos told us, and your potential more so."_

_"It is often said that the larger the Aura, the more powerful the Semblance," Glynda brought up. "After all, it would take a considerable amount of Aura to perform bigger effects. My own Aura was naturally larger than most of the students when I attended Beacon because I altered the physical state of objects around me, whether they be living or not."_

_Jaune thought about that for a moment. Of course, it would take more Aura to perform some reality-altering things like Weiss' Glyphs or Pyrrha's Magnetism (Jaune had figured that out when he saw her spar with other students). _

_"But Aura and Semblances aside, why are you telling me this?" Jaune asked dubiously. "Why keep me here and, by default, putting your reputation on the line? Why do this for me?"_

_Ozpin and Glynda turned to each other before they smirked uncharacteristically._

_Ozpin turned back to Jaune, "It's because your sister, Rouge Arc, has become a teacher at Signal Academy three weeks ago and has filed an official teacher recommendation for you. As such, you have every right to be here, forged documentation or not."_

_Jaune froze, "B-B-But... isn't that favoritism?!"_

_Glynda's smirk remained, "To the outside perspective, yes, but they don't need to know about that," Glynda replied. "Considering how your false record no longer exists, you may continue attending Beacon on the condition that you do not slack off on your studies. I expect you to work extra hard if you are to catch up to the other students."_

* * *

Jaune was still reeling from the fact that Rouge had gone that far for his sake when everyone else decided that he wasn't worth their time.

_Well, to oblivion with them! I'll become strong on my own..._

But, the students have been training for so long, for more than ten years. For more than ten years, they shed blood, sweat, and tears to get where they are now. How on earth was Jaune supposed to do that in less than four?

Jaune... just wish he had more time.

Time...

The mere word echoed in his mind, the word sending tremors through his body.

_Time..._

Suddenly, Jaune felt the air lie still. Jaune noticed the ground and leaves underneath him had lost their natural color, as if he were staring at a very old movie screen without the static. Jaune looked up and took several steps back when he saw the entire world had gone still and with none of its colors. Birds that were flying in different directions looked like floating statues while fallen leaves were frozen in their journey towards solid ground.

Jaune had felt a small flux in his Aura, a thin layer of white light covering his entire form like a film. As if... protecting him from something that seemed to be all around him. Jaune looked around at the frozen world, then the Aura covering his hands, then the frozen world again.

_Did... did I do this?_

Jaune remembered the word, time, in his head. Jaune remembered that he, dare he say, _felt _the word. Time's meaning had been... lost? No, that can't be right. Right?

_Did I... did I stop time?!_

_No, that's impossible! I've heard of crazy Semblances, but this is nutty!_

But the proof was right there. His Aura was active, everything was stock still except for him, and everything was shrouded in an eerie silence. The sheer emptiness around Jaune was so strange, so alien that Jaune's instincts told him that it all should've been impossible!

But it was right there in front of him! The trees and birds around him would've made for a welcoming scene were it not for the loss of color and its immobility twisting that image into something... almost cruel and unnatural. As if Jaune had made a facsimile, a trick, a mockery of the life around him.

His Semblance... it seemed to give him the ability to stop time, or at least either protect him from it or cause his complete dissociation with it. Jaune had been removed from the dimension of reality altogether!

_This... this is just..._

Jaune could not think of a proper word to describe the sheer absurdity of the situation before him.

But... if this was actually his Semblance, Jaune could do so much with this! He could slay a swarm of Grimm in no time at all! Literally! He could save so many people with time stopped! He could...

_Gasp!_

Jaune remembered the time when he played with a small plastic katana, pretending to slash and sever objects to pieces in a single swing and sometimes only unsheathing the hilt of the blade. Imaginary enemies would fall instantaneously, them wondering how he defeated them so swiftly.

Jaune felt a grin plastering his face, he should ask Ruby if she was willing to help Jaune make a katana instead of Crocea Mors. As much as Jaune loved the family heirloom, it wasn't really his, so he was going to have to send it back home. His family would appreciate that, maybe add an apology note to it.

However, the grin on Jaune's face began to loosen as he asked himself an important question.

_How do I control it? Do I just..._

_Continue?_

In an instant, Jaune's ears were assaulted by an explosion of noise. Jaune nearly fell on his rear from all that noise suddenly ripping through his ears, which had quite possibly gone sensitive due to the lack of sound in the frozen world.

The Frozen World...

The World.

_Yeah, that's a cool name because it affects the entire world. The World._

With The World now deactivated and with Remnant moving again, the next step was to... what.

_Well, get back to Beacon for one. Maybe now I can live up to that recommendation. Thank you so much, Rouge!_

With his situation now assessed and his Semblance now discovered, Jaune walked back to Beacon Academy with a pep in his step.

His first goal, defeat the first years.

* * *

Using The World in order to save himself some time, Jaune had come back to Beacon. His original plan was to tell Pyrrha what his Semblance was, but for the sake of theatrics, Jaune had decided to keep it a secret and just say that he was holding back significantly. Whether that would insult the other students or not was something that Jaune somehow could not find within himself to care about.

However, Jaune decided to test the limits of The World.

_Stop._

And the world stopped. It was simple as that. Students around Jaune froze into statues and the world lost all color. The looks on the students froze in either content or joy that stayed as still and as colorless as everything else. Never realizing that they were no longer moving. Or was Jaune simply moving faster than everything else?

Jaune shook his head, the feeling of having everything stop dead in their tracks was so surreal to him. But still, he needed to experiment. He had seen some time-stopping abilities in books, comics, and television to try different things.

For one, the ability to move on walls and move immensely heavy objects due to the lack of gravity.

Jaune confirmed that this was the case as he was able to jump higher and farther than he ever could before. Jaune whooped and cheered in childish excitement as he jumped around like a little idiot. Jaune ran up the walls of Beacon Academy until reaching the top. Jaune, steeling his nerves, had even managed to land from the top of Beacon Tower onto the stone path without any amount of discomfort.

In fact, the ground gave way to him instead of the other way around, cracking and caving inwards with splinters of concrete flying up before stopping in midair. Jaune had panicked, but he realized that, as long he was nowhere near the scene, no one could accuse him of this.

With that out of the way, Jaune realized that he was free to manipulate the world in any way he wished.

"Gods, this is cool!" Jaune yelled in joy, giving into his childish whimsy since no one could notice, his exclamations dissolving into the frozen world, never to be heard by others. Reality had actually thrown him a bone for once.

And it was a _massive _bone!

In the world of The World, nothing could hurt him, nothing could call him names, nothing could mock him, and nothing could ever hope to make him feel weak. He was safe, powerful, almighty even! This sudden difference in power was enough to give Jaune a newfound confidence.

The thought of using a katana to slice Cardin's mace into pieces and make it appear as if he (Jaune) hadn't moved an inch made Jaune chuckle.

And speaking of that katana...

_Continue._

The world moved again.

Jaune giggled like a school girl as he made his way to Team RWBY's dorm. Ruby was an expert at weapons making, and who better to make a badass katana than her?

* * *

Standing in front of Team RWBY's dorm, and with his newfound confidence, Jaune knocked on the door.

There was shuffling noises, some footfalls on a carpeted surface, and the door was swung wide open.

Jaune's grin stretched further.

It was Ruby her very self standing in the door frame with a smile, her entrancing silver eyes staring right into Jaune's own ocean blues, "Oh, hey Jaune!" Ruby greeted happily, smiling in such a way that made some tension in Jaune's shoulders loosen. Jaune quickly looked behind Ruby to see only Blake reading a book. Weiss was most likely trying to get Yang to study some more in the library.

Jaune was about to ask for a favor he knew Ruby could never refuse, "Hey, Rubes, I know this is a bit sudden, but..." Jaune purposefully trailed off his own words, pulling the pin on the grenade.

Ruby cocked her head to one side, "But..."

Jaune threw the grenade, knowing that cooking a grenade in your hand for too long would lead to lethal consequences, "Can you help me make a new weapon?"

...

Ruby's eyes went wider and wider in joy.

And the grenade exploded.

"ABSOLUTELY!" Ruby squealed like a child, jumping up and down at the thought of making a cool weapon for her first friend, Blake had looked up from her book to see what was going on with curiosity in those cat-like eyes. "What do you have in mind?!"

Jaune laughed at Ruby's childish whimsy, "Slow down there, Rubes," Jaune said before getting his laughter under control. "You know those videos of random guys throwing food in the air and then slicing them to pieces without fully unsheathing the katana their carrying?"

Ruby giggled, "Yeah, those are funny to watch, why?"

"Well, I was hoping you could help with making a katana," Jaune said.

Before Ruby could ask to elaborate as to why Jaune wanted a katana, Jaune pulled out an apple he had managed to grab from the cafeteria (all the while trying to avoid Team CRDL). Jaune threw the apple into the air, causing Ruby and Blake to look up at the apple. Jaune loosened the hilt portion of the sword in front of their eyes.

_Stop._

Time stopped instantly and the apple remained suspended in the air.

Fully unsheathing Crocea Mors, Jaune giggled. He always wanted to do this.

Swinging the arming sword in a way that cut the apple into eight slices, while being careful not to hit Ruby or the wall, Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors.

_Continue._

Time continued and the apple fell.

The apple split into eight perfect slices before their very eyes.

Ruby and Blake stared in shock, their eyes as wide as dinner plates and their mouths agape.

Jaune grinned, "Fun, right?"

* * *

**I was inspired to write this after the story "Sense of Semblance" by SandStormHero. As much as I absolutely love the concept of Jaune stopping time and being all like "ZA WARUDO!" I wasn't really fond of the sexual stuff in their (there is no actual rape in that story, I guarantee that). I wanted to see some fighting stuff in there, which is something I'll do in this.**

**Jaune be OP as fuk!**

**Also, stay tuned for another story I plan on writing called "Soul Cake," which was inspired by the song written and composed by Sting.**


End file.
